The Hjertstedt Notes on America in 1840

THE HJERTSTEDT NOTES ON AMERICA
IN 1840
NILS WILLIAM OLSSON
On leap day in 1840, a small Swedish corvette, Najaden,
closely corresponding to an American sloop of war at that
time, arrived at the port of La Guayra, Venezuela, pre­paratory
to its long voyage home. The vessel was on the
next to the last leg of a training cruise, which had begun
the previous July and which had taken it from Piteå, a
few degrees south of the Arctic Circle in the uppermost
reaches of the Gulf of Bothnia, down along the Swedish
coast to Karlskrona, the Swedish naval base, and then on
into the Atlantic. The vessel had touched briefly at Ma­deira
in the Canary Islands, had spent a few days in the
excellent harbor of Gustavia in St. Barthelemy, the Swed­ish
West Indies colony, before proceeding to South Amer­ica.
There, during the first few weeks of the new year,
Najaden had called at the ports of L a Guayra and Puerto
Cabello. Now her prow was headed north, making good
progress with the aid of the prevailing trade winds. There
was to be one more final stop at New York, before the
corvette headed back to Sweden across the North Atlantic.
Aboard the vessel was a young Swedish medical officer,
Ludvig Magnus Hjertstedt,1 who had accompanied the
cruise as ship's surgeon. During the voyage he had em­ployed
his spare time well in observing all of the scientific
'Ludvig Magnus Hjertstedt was born in Gränna, Sweden, March 28, 1810,
the son of Johan Gabriel Hjertstedt, a postal inspector and customs official, and
Anna Carolina Mobeck. After studies at the universities in Lund and Upp­sala,
he received his medical degree in 183T, and his master in surgery in
1839. After his return to Sweden in 1840 he became city physician in Vad­stena,
and chief of the medical staff of the Vadstena Hospital in 1849. He
died there Oct. 11,! 1878. A. Hilarion Wistrand, A. J. Bruzelius and Carl Ed-ling,
Sveriges läkarehistoria (Stockholm, 1873), Vol. I, pp. 324-325.
151
aspects of the journey. Be had served both as oceanogra­pher
and meteorologist. His alert eye had caught all of
the nuances of life in the tropics, not only in the fields of
flora and fauna, but he had also used his pen well in de­picting
the scenes he saw, the folkways, the patterns of life
and culture in the new world. Later when he arrived in
New York, he managed to crowd everything into the ten
days the vessel was in port and from the visit there
emerged, a lively, if at times critical, account of life in
this teeming American metropolis. His ship's journal, kept
during the entire voyage, entitled D a g - B o k under en resa
kring S v e r i g e s K u s t e r samt till N. Canarie öarne, W e s t ­indien,
Södra o c h Norra A m e r i k a 1839 & 1840, is de­posited
in the Lund University Library in Sweden and re­mains
today a first rate account of a visit to the western
hemisphere almost a century and a quarter ago.2
As Najaden moved northward slowly, leaving the exotic
life of the tropics far behind, Hjertstedt, sensing colder cli­mate
waiting for him in the North Atlantic, had one last
burst of oratorical lyricism:
"On March 1 I said an e t e r n a l farewell to South Amer­ica's
impressive and marvelous natural beauty."
He did not have to wait long. After crossing the Carib­bean
Sea, he reported on March 18 that Najaden now had
sliced across the Gulf Stream and was: encountering the
northern current, bringing with it from the Newfoundland
banks a cold front which promised the very worst of
weather. Off Cape Hatteras he was quite uncomfortable
but after sighting the shores of Virginia he observed that
the weather had improved. Soon thereafter a pilot came
on board and the entrance into New York's harbor was
made without incident.
Hjertstedt plunged into a round of activities in New York
2 The early history of the manuscript is not known. It was donated to the
university collection in 1947 by Prof. Bertil Hanström on behalf of the Zoologi­cal
Institute.
152
which would have felled others, as young as he. His curi­osity
was boundless and when he departed from New York
he had devoured and was in the process of digesting hun­dreds
of impressions which had bombarded him during his
brief sojourn ashore.
His first view of Broadway was a pleasant surprise. He
compared it favorably with the best in Europe, not only in
its length and breadth, but also for its; many buildings
which lined this famous street. He was struck by the mo­bility
of the traffic,, the number of public and private car­riages
and by the many beautiful shops. He liked other
New York streets as well, particularly Hudson, Washing­ton,
Greenwich, Bowery and Great Canal Streets. He was,
however, displeased with the advertising which he found
on the houses:
"The houses lose much of their beauty due to the great
quantity of inscriptions with gigantic letters which are
painted on them in the way of signs—many of the houses
are completely covered by them."
On his first Sunday in port Hjertstedt took the oppor­tunity
to visit a number of churches. He liked their sim­plicity
and tastefulness, which were in direct contrast to
the Swedish churches which contained "inartistic paintings
and sculptures." He was impressed by the carpeting on the
floors and by the installation of heating, which spread a
delightful comfort throughout the church and even into the
vestibule.
"I cannot understand why we in Scandinavia have not
given thought to this comfort, which certainly should not
detract from the spirit of worship. The painful cold in
our churches during the winter is well-known, and many
have visited the Lord's Temple, only to lose their health.
. . . We have plenty of forests and many a preacher
would probably rejoice to see more numerous and more
attentive listeners."
One day Hjertstedt spent visiting Harlem, at that time
153
an inn, located about IVz miles from the center of New
York. The journey was made by railroad, but because of
the great hazard involved in the use of steam cars in the
city, horses were substituted to pull the cars to the out­skirts
of the metropolis, where steam locomotives took
over and:
"at once we were off with the speed of an arrow
across the even terrain."
After a time the train came to a tunnel and Hjertstedt
described his sensations in the following manner:
"At one place the road is blasted out of a mountain
and we passed through a dark house or long archway.
The sudden change from light to darkness, the shower of
sparks which rained down upon us, the speed, and once
more the change from darkness into light—all this made
the passage seem very strange indeed."
His description of the train itself is also interesting:
"The cars are enormous and are equipped with flat
roofs, upon which are placed seats, for those who wish to
sit up there. There is so much space up there that peo­ple
may walk about quite unperturbed during the terrific
speed."
One evening Hjertstedt visited the Bowery Theater,
where The Belgian Giant was being exhibited. This unbe­lievably
huge person was a Belgian national, 25 years old,
who measured IVz feet in height and was considered to
be a veritable Goliath. After several demonstrations of his
enormous strength, he ended the show by chasing an ordi­nary
mortal about the stage, seeing the victim climb up
into a huge tree, and to the thunderous applause of the
spectators began pulling up the mighty oak by its roots
with the poor fellow clinging timorously to the branches.
Other theater visits included the Park Theater and the
Circus Olympicus. At the latter place he observed for the
154
first time, American Indians performing their ritualistic
war dances.
Hjertstedt also had an opportunity to visit his country­man,
John Ericsson,8 who was living in New York at this
time. He discussed briefly his interview with the great in­ventor:
"Our well-known countryman, Captain Ericsson, now
lives in America and is working for the American Gov­ernment,
constructing a steam frigate of 500 horsepower.
He has invented machinery based upon the principle of
the Archimedean screw, with the wheel located aft in
the ship and below the surface of the water, so that the
machinery and the wheel are completely safe from ar­tillery
shells. It was interesting to make his acquaintance
and he was kind enough to show me the machinery, but
since I am ill informed about the science of mechanics, I
am not able to describe it. If his experiment is success­ful,
and it seems to be certain, this will have terrific con­sequences
for naval warfare in the future."
Being a scientist, Hjertstedt was also anxious to visit
museums, of which there were two at this time in New
York. He preferred the American Museum, which he de­scribed
in this way:
"This museum belongs to a private individual, but it is
open to the general public for an admission fee of 25
cents. It is open every day, is illuminated during the
evenings, and music is provided. The collections fill four
rooms on various floors and have an occasional item here
and there of some rarity. They (the exhibits) are ar­ranged
more for effect than from the point of view of
science. Since the American puts money first, he has
made science the hand-maiden of money-making. Thus
title museum advertises just like other evening spectacles.
Here one may view Napoleon in the Alps, may see ba-
3 John Ericsson (1803-1899) had arrived from England the year before and
was at work on the steam frigate Princeton. This vessel, equipped with pro­peller,
steam engines and guns, all of Ericsson's design, made its maiden voy­age
to England in October, 1843. Unfortunately an explosion aboard the
vessel on the Potomac River in 1844 which killed six people, including two
cabinet ministers, threatened to blacken Ericsson's name for good.—Carola
Goldkuhl, John Ericsson (Stockholm, 1961), pp. 109-118.
155
boons ride around on donkeys, and gape upon wax figures
of dandies with the Legion of Honor in the button hole,
and other childish things. The entire numismatic collec­tion
is on display and one cannot help but praise (this
idea), for they do not do as the museum in Uppsala,
where everything is packed down, hidden from the gaze
of the curious. I must admit that I did not like the sys­tem
of arranging the museums and the naturalia without
the slightest efforts at scientific classification. They (the
museums) seem more to be a part of business, drawing
crowds and in particular children, who doubtlessly find
themselves edified and amused by all of these wax figures,
cosmoramas, and riding monkeys, which are shown here.
Nevertheless it is remarkable that they give any atten­tion
at all to the natural sciences, and this will doubt­lessly
also improve as time goes on."
Though busy sightseeing in New York, Hjertstedt also
wished to see other parts of the United States, lying within
easy reach. He wanted to see Albany, West Point, Sing
Sing and the famous Shaker colony in Watervliet, N. Y.,
but vetoed this plan when he found out that he would have
to travel by boat at night, and would thus miss seeing all
of the natural scenery along the way. Instead he decided
upon a trip to Philadelphia, which could be done by day­light.
In the company of a lieutenant from Najaden by the
name of Feilitzen4 he departed from New York at 7 a.m.
on April 2, 1840. He wrote in his journal:
"The morning was clear and beautiful, but cold like our
spring mornings. Nevertheless I saw most of the passen­gers
walking around in their suits and shoes, while I was
quite comfortable in my overcoat and galoshes. . . . The
number of passengers was over 100 and the mixture of
types was interesting to behold. Here we saw ladies in
beautiful silk dresses and simple women in cotton clothes.
We saw dandies with narrow coats of the finest cloth, cut
4 August Gustaf Reinhold von Feilitzen (1815-1898) was second lieutenant
aboard Najaden. He left the Swedish Navy in 1842 to become superintendent
of Motala Verkstad. He returned to the Navy, however, and rose to become
rear admiral in 1876. He also had literary interests and published a Swedish
dramatization of Walter Scott's Lady of the L a k e . S v e n s k a Män och Kvinnor
(Stockholm, 1942-1955), Vol. n, p. 503.
156
according to the latest style, as well as people with
patched boots and dirty clothes. A l l seem to thrive with
the much proclaimed equality and the roughest and most
uncouth gentlemen promenaded aft with the greatest
aplomb."
At South Amboy the journey was continued by rail. The
train, equipped with ten cars, proceeded south through
New Jersey, but Hjertstedt complained that he could not
see much of the landscape because of the excessive speed
of the train. He was, however, impressed with the comfort
of the trains, and how at various stops women and chil­dren
came on board, selling their stocks of apples, pretzels
and candies, just like the "pretzel madames in Södertälje
do aboard our steam ships." He predicted that the time
would come when "both dining rooms and sleeping rooms
would be found in these cars."
When the train reached the Delaware River, the passen­gers
were placed aboard a steamboat which transported
them the remainder of the way to Philadelphia. At 2 p.m.
the ship arrived and Hjertstedt and his companion went
ashore. He was not impressed with the approaches to' the
city, but once in the city he was of a different mind:
"It is much to be preferred to New York and is in its
cleanliness and pure lines one of the most beautiful in
the world. The city has a fantastic area and the streets
cut each other at straight angles. The city is full of mar­velous
public buildings of marble in noble Grecian style,
richly furnished with columns. Among these I noticed
The State House, which now contains Peale's Museum,
the largest collection of exhibits in America. The New
Bank of Pennsylvania is a large magnificent building of
white marble of ionic architecture, patterned after M i ­nerva's
Temple in Athens. The Pennsylvania Hospital
and several others are also prominent with their noble
architecture. The houses are usually four stories tall and
are not, as in New York,, cluttered with signs and adver­tising.
Most of them have door lintels, posts, steps and
fence posts of white and beautifully fashioned marble."
157
Hjertstedt had little time for sightseeing, but he man­aged
to visit the Peale Museum which called forth the fol­lowing
comment:
"The collections are to be found in an enormously large
room, supported by forty pair of pillars on each side,
around which runs a balcony. The collection of naturalia
is quite large and though assembled with taste, shows the
same childish desire to entertain, and the scientific system
is less followed than the effect it is supposed to give. I
admit that it seems well done to see a large tree, full of
animals, birds and insects, all life-like. I admit that the
voracious wolf which is tearing the sheep apart gives a
good effect; but monkeys which produce shoes, paint pic­tures
and write verse are to me in bad taste and bizarre.
Toward the back of the room is to be found the giant of
all animals, the immense and enormous Mammoth ani­mal.
One cannot fathom its tremendous size. The tusks
alone are twelve feet long. On each side of it stand an
elephant and hippopotamus, like small offspring around
the huge animal."
Unfortunately for Hjertstedt and for his narrative, time
did not allow him the opportunity to visit hospitals and
schools in Philadelphia, which he had heard said, were
among the best in the United States. The next morning, at
7 o'clock he returned again to New York, traveling the 91
miles in the record-breaking time of seven hours, includ­ing
all stops.
He spent the remaining two days of his stay in New
York frantically cramming away hundreds of new impres­sions
concerning American life and culture, all of which
fascinated him immensely.
He sought at every turn to be objective and to evaluate
Americans and their country within the framework of the
nation's youth and the fact that the American people repre­sented
many different cultures. He was genuinely pleased
with many facets of the young republic. He liked the gen­eral
appearance of the people:
158
"The appearance of the people generally is good and I
place the women before the women of any other country.
Their facial features, their proportions, their build, the
wonderful freshness of their complexion, the simplicity of
their taste in clothes as well as their manners, all contrive
to make them very lovely. Seldom, if ever, did I see an
ugly face. Everyone of them had something fine and ex­quisite
in her facial features."
"Their cultural level is generally better than that of the
men, who because of their business, do not have the time
to devote to esthetics. The only thing that bothered me
about the ladies, was the fact that their complexion is too
good, too pink—doubtlessly because their cheeks are too
rouged. Where some people see only beauty, the doctor
often sees destruction lurking in the background, the
worm behind the rose—hectic fever which sweeps away
most of them in their youthful years."
Hjertstedt liked the material comforts of New York. He
was impressed by the number of buses and cabs on the
streets. He liked the New York thoroughfares, particularly
Broadway and its illumination by night. He commented on
the fact that illuminating gas was extensively used in dwell­ings,
hotels and inns and one needed only to turn the jet
and light the gas to see the whole room illuminated. He
was impressed by the hotels, the good food and the tasty
wines, although he felt that the prices were a bit on the
steep side.
In his comments on the many Swedes that lived in New
York, he referred to the hard life that many of them led.
He mentioned the newly organized Swedish Society,6 which
though founded to unite the Swedes, had instead been the
means of splintering them even more, due to intrigues and
conflicting interests. He mentioned two of the members,
who had shown him a great deal of kindness, G. Tellander
and a Mr. Scherman.6
5 The Swedish Society was founded in New York, Feb. 21, 1836. by 22
Swedes.
"Probably Anders Gustaf Tellander from Jönköping, a jeweler, who had
arrived in New York in 1839 and Wilhelm Scherman, a draughtsman, who
was one of the founders of the Society and its first president. Oddly enough,
Hjertstedt's brother, Pehr Harald Hjertstedt, who lived in the United States
1834-1838, had been one of the charter members of the Society.
159
Hjertstedt realized full well the difficulty of appraising
the American character objectively. He admitted that this
would have been ludicrous, and yet he observed that:
"So far as I can see, they (the Americans) were in­dustrious
and busy as ants. They are neat and proper,
very immediate and are devoid of strange mannerisms.
The streets are not filled with loafers, beggars and people
of ill repute, of which we see so much in Stockholm."
He continued by observing the American love of freedom:
"The American nation has a burning passion for liberty
and for country. It is not hindered in this by old and
mossy constitutions, by customs and habits, but it makes
use of all the aids inherent in the spirit of the age, in
order to further progress and growth. The inherent abil­ity
of every individual comes first, whereas inherited ben­efits
and advantages mean nothing in this country. The
same thing can be said for titles and royal prerogatives.
A l l citizens are considered equal, provided they conduct
themselves properly and without reproach. Freedom of
thought is respected, as well as freedom of expression.
Hard work, industriousness and thoroughness are cardi­nal
virtues, which characterize the American nation. Re­ligions
of various faiths are not only tolerated, but have
an equal standing. There is no state religion, but every­one
may think and believe as his own conscience bids
him. Education and enlightenment are pursued in every
way possible."
But Hjertstedt was also mindful of the seamy side of
American life, and reflected over the less; admirable char­acteristics
of the American citizen. He pointed out, how­ever,
that these foibles were mostly due to the youthfulness
of the nation, its "peculiar" type of constitution and the
divergent backgrounds of its peoples:
"Culture is perhaps only skin-deep and the sciences,
particularly the theoretical disciplines, are not as thor­ough
here as in Europe. The fine arts are not given the
same attention, even though the appreciation is not lack­ing,
as some authors have pointed out."
160
"The feeling for freedom is sometimes exaggerated and
expresses itself sometimes in brashness and braggadocio,
as well as boastfulness that the American has no peer
among nations. This attitude can be annoying. Religion
also goes to extremes and the freedom of the press is
often abused, so that newspapers often become scandal
sheets, which rob people of all honor and decency."
Hjertstedt was particularly critical of the American treat­ment
of the Indian and the Negro. He was shocked by the
United States actions in the Seminole Indian War in Flor­ida:
"One must say that the American has not conducted
himself properly toward the original resident of his coun­try,
the red child of the forest, the Indian. The War in
Florida has demonstrated the injustice of the American.
No person could believe that a civilized state would wish
to revive the terrible treatment given to the Indian by the
Spaniard, particularly in the man-hunts conducted by
means of blood-hounds. But the enlightened North Amer­icans
are now planning to do this, if one is to believe the
press, which states that 300 of these beasts are being
brought from Cuba to begin a man-hunt on a large scale.
The newspapers are making merry over this method of
warfare and I saw several cartoons showing dogs in uni­form,
labeled 'The Florida Army.' "
In common with many other Swedish and European trav­elers,
Hjertstedt was critical of the way the American
treated the Negro. He quoted liberally from newspaper ac­counts
and the various state laws dealing with the Negro
problem. He was shocked in learning that in Alabama the
fine for teaching a f r e e d Negro or slave to read and write
varied between 250 and 500 dollars. The same law speci­fied
that cruel and inhuman treatment of a Negro slave
made its owner liable to a fine of 200 dollars:
"Two hundred dollars is the fine for mistreating a
slave—five hundred dollars the fine for teaching him to
read—"
161
Hjertstedt did not minimize the problem, however, and
admitted that it would be extremely difficult to solve. He
foresaw that the only way to eliminate slavery would be
by a general upheaval. This would mean a break between
the North and the South, which in turn might result in the
creation of two separate states, which were so different any­way,
in so many respects. He pointed out, however, that
any solution to the problem would have to come gradually,
without undue haste.
On April 6, 1840, Hjertstedt noted in his diary that Na­jaden
had weighed anchor and was borne toward the open
sea on the ebbing tide. His brief visit to North America
was over and he now looked forward to seeing his native
land once more. As the rays of the setting sun disappeared
in the west, he also saw disappear with them—
"the fertile and lovely coast of the New World, perhaps
forever, so far as I am concerned."
162

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THE HJERTSTEDT NOTES ON AMERICA
IN 1840
NILS WILLIAM OLSSON
On leap day in 1840, a small Swedish corvette, Najaden,
closely corresponding to an American sloop of war at that
time, arrived at the port of La Guayra, Venezuela, pre­paratory
to its long voyage home. The vessel was on the
next to the last leg of a training cruise, which had begun
the previous July and which had taken it from Piteå, a
few degrees south of the Arctic Circle in the uppermost
reaches of the Gulf of Bothnia, down along the Swedish
coast to Karlskrona, the Swedish naval base, and then on
into the Atlantic. The vessel had touched briefly at Ma­deira
in the Canary Islands, had spent a few days in the
excellent harbor of Gustavia in St. Barthelemy, the Swed­ish
West Indies colony, before proceeding to South Amer­ica.
There, during the first few weeks of the new year,
Najaden had called at the ports of L a Guayra and Puerto
Cabello. Now her prow was headed north, making good
progress with the aid of the prevailing trade winds. There
was to be one more final stop at New York, before the
corvette headed back to Sweden across the North Atlantic.
Aboard the vessel was a young Swedish medical officer,
Ludvig Magnus Hjertstedt,1 who had accompanied the
cruise as ship's surgeon. During the voyage he had em­ployed
his spare time well in observing all of the scientific
'Ludvig Magnus Hjertstedt was born in Gränna, Sweden, March 28, 1810,
the son of Johan Gabriel Hjertstedt, a postal inspector and customs official, and
Anna Carolina Mobeck. After studies at the universities in Lund and Upp­sala,
he received his medical degree in 183T, and his master in surgery in
1839. After his return to Sweden in 1840 he became city physician in Vad­stena,
and chief of the medical staff of the Vadstena Hospital in 1849. He
died there Oct. 11,! 1878. A. Hilarion Wistrand, A. J. Bruzelius and Carl Ed-ling,
Sveriges läkarehistoria (Stockholm, 1873), Vol. I, pp. 324-325.
151
aspects of the journey. Be had served both as oceanogra­pher
and meteorologist. His alert eye had caught all of
the nuances of life in the tropics, not only in the fields of
flora and fauna, but he had also used his pen well in de­picting
the scenes he saw, the folkways, the patterns of life
and culture in the new world. Later when he arrived in
New York, he managed to crowd everything into the ten
days the vessel was in port and from the visit there
emerged, a lively, if at times critical, account of life in
this teeming American metropolis. His ship's journal, kept
during the entire voyage, entitled D a g - B o k under en resa
kring S v e r i g e s K u s t e r samt till N. Canarie öarne, W e s t ­indien,
Södra o c h Norra A m e r i k a 1839 & 1840, is de­posited
in the Lund University Library in Sweden and re­mains
today a first rate account of a visit to the western
hemisphere almost a century and a quarter ago.2
As Najaden moved northward slowly, leaving the exotic
life of the tropics far behind, Hjertstedt, sensing colder cli­mate
waiting for him in the North Atlantic, had one last
burst of oratorical lyricism:
"On March 1 I said an e t e r n a l farewell to South Amer­ica's
impressive and marvelous natural beauty."
He did not have to wait long. After crossing the Carib­bean
Sea, he reported on March 18 that Najaden now had
sliced across the Gulf Stream and was: encountering the
northern current, bringing with it from the Newfoundland
banks a cold front which promised the very worst of
weather. Off Cape Hatteras he was quite uncomfortable
but after sighting the shores of Virginia he observed that
the weather had improved. Soon thereafter a pilot came
on board and the entrance into New York's harbor was
made without incident.
Hjertstedt plunged into a round of activities in New York
2 The early history of the manuscript is not known. It was donated to the
university collection in 1947 by Prof. Bertil Hanström on behalf of the Zoologi­cal
Institute.
152
which would have felled others, as young as he. His curi­osity
was boundless and when he departed from New York
he had devoured and was in the process of digesting hun­dreds
of impressions which had bombarded him during his
brief sojourn ashore.
His first view of Broadway was a pleasant surprise. He
compared it favorably with the best in Europe, not only in
its length and breadth, but also for its; many buildings
which lined this famous street. He was struck by the mo­bility
of the traffic,, the number of public and private car­riages
and by the many beautiful shops. He liked other
New York streets as well, particularly Hudson, Washing­ton,
Greenwich, Bowery and Great Canal Streets. He was,
however, displeased with the advertising which he found
on the houses:
"The houses lose much of their beauty due to the great
quantity of inscriptions with gigantic letters which are
painted on them in the way of signs—many of the houses
are completely covered by them."
On his first Sunday in port Hjertstedt took the oppor­tunity
to visit a number of churches. He liked their sim­plicity
and tastefulness, which were in direct contrast to
the Swedish churches which contained "inartistic paintings
and sculptures." He was impressed by the carpeting on the
floors and by the installation of heating, which spread a
delightful comfort throughout the church and even into the
vestibule.
"I cannot understand why we in Scandinavia have not
given thought to this comfort, which certainly should not
detract from the spirit of worship. The painful cold in
our churches during the winter is well-known, and many
have visited the Lord's Temple, only to lose their health.
. . . We have plenty of forests and many a preacher
would probably rejoice to see more numerous and more
attentive listeners."
One day Hjertstedt spent visiting Harlem, at that time
153
an inn, located about IVz miles from the center of New
York. The journey was made by railroad, but because of
the great hazard involved in the use of steam cars in the
city, horses were substituted to pull the cars to the out­skirts
of the metropolis, where steam locomotives took
over and:
"at once we were off with the speed of an arrow
across the even terrain."
After a time the train came to a tunnel and Hjertstedt
described his sensations in the following manner:
"At one place the road is blasted out of a mountain
and we passed through a dark house or long archway.
The sudden change from light to darkness, the shower of
sparks which rained down upon us, the speed, and once
more the change from darkness into light—all this made
the passage seem very strange indeed."
His description of the train itself is also interesting:
"The cars are enormous and are equipped with flat
roofs, upon which are placed seats, for those who wish to
sit up there. There is so much space up there that peo­ple
may walk about quite unperturbed during the terrific
speed."
One evening Hjertstedt visited the Bowery Theater,
where The Belgian Giant was being exhibited. This unbe­lievably
huge person was a Belgian national, 25 years old,
who measured IVz feet in height and was considered to
be a veritable Goliath. After several demonstrations of his
enormous strength, he ended the show by chasing an ordi­nary
mortal about the stage, seeing the victim climb up
into a huge tree, and to the thunderous applause of the
spectators began pulling up the mighty oak by its roots
with the poor fellow clinging timorously to the branches.
Other theater visits included the Park Theater and the
Circus Olympicus. At the latter place he observed for the
154
first time, American Indians performing their ritualistic
war dances.
Hjertstedt also had an opportunity to visit his country­man,
John Ericsson,8 who was living in New York at this
time. He discussed briefly his interview with the great in­ventor:
"Our well-known countryman, Captain Ericsson, now
lives in America and is working for the American Gov­ernment,
constructing a steam frigate of 500 horsepower.
He has invented machinery based upon the principle of
the Archimedean screw, with the wheel located aft in
the ship and below the surface of the water, so that the
machinery and the wheel are completely safe from ar­tillery
shells. It was interesting to make his acquaintance
and he was kind enough to show me the machinery, but
since I am ill informed about the science of mechanics, I
am not able to describe it. If his experiment is success­ful,
and it seems to be certain, this will have terrific con­sequences
for naval warfare in the future."
Being a scientist, Hjertstedt was also anxious to visit
museums, of which there were two at this time in New
York. He preferred the American Museum, which he de­scribed
in this way:
"This museum belongs to a private individual, but it is
open to the general public for an admission fee of 25
cents. It is open every day, is illuminated during the
evenings, and music is provided. The collections fill four
rooms on various floors and have an occasional item here
and there of some rarity. They (the exhibits) are ar­ranged
more for effect than from the point of view of
science. Since the American puts money first, he has
made science the hand-maiden of money-making. Thus
title museum advertises just like other evening spectacles.
Here one may view Napoleon in the Alps, may see ba-
3 John Ericsson (1803-1899) had arrived from England the year before and
was at work on the steam frigate Princeton. This vessel, equipped with pro­peller,
steam engines and guns, all of Ericsson's design, made its maiden voy­age
to England in October, 1843. Unfortunately an explosion aboard the
vessel on the Potomac River in 1844 which killed six people, including two
cabinet ministers, threatened to blacken Ericsson's name for good.—Carola
Goldkuhl, John Ericsson (Stockholm, 1961), pp. 109-118.
155
boons ride around on donkeys, and gape upon wax figures
of dandies with the Legion of Honor in the button hole,
and other childish things. The entire numismatic collec­tion
is on display and one cannot help but praise (this
idea), for they do not do as the museum in Uppsala,
where everything is packed down, hidden from the gaze
of the curious. I must admit that I did not like the sys­tem
of arranging the museums and the naturalia without
the slightest efforts at scientific classification. They (the
museums) seem more to be a part of business, drawing
crowds and in particular children, who doubtlessly find
themselves edified and amused by all of these wax figures,
cosmoramas, and riding monkeys, which are shown here.
Nevertheless it is remarkable that they give any atten­tion
at all to the natural sciences, and this will doubt­lessly
also improve as time goes on."
Though busy sightseeing in New York, Hjertstedt also
wished to see other parts of the United States, lying within
easy reach. He wanted to see Albany, West Point, Sing
Sing and the famous Shaker colony in Watervliet, N. Y.,
but vetoed this plan when he found out that he would have
to travel by boat at night, and would thus miss seeing all
of the natural scenery along the way. Instead he decided
upon a trip to Philadelphia, which could be done by day­light.
In the company of a lieutenant from Najaden by the
name of Feilitzen4 he departed from New York at 7 a.m.
on April 2, 1840. He wrote in his journal:
"The morning was clear and beautiful, but cold like our
spring mornings. Nevertheless I saw most of the passen­gers
walking around in their suits and shoes, while I was
quite comfortable in my overcoat and galoshes. . . . The
number of passengers was over 100 and the mixture of
types was interesting to behold. Here we saw ladies in
beautiful silk dresses and simple women in cotton clothes.
We saw dandies with narrow coats of the finest cloth, cut
4 August Gustaf Reinhold von Feilitzen (1815-1898) was second lieutenant
aboard Najaden. He left the Swedish Navy in 1842 to become superintendent
of Motala Verkstad. He returned to the Navy, however, and rose to become
rear admiral in 1876. He also had literary interests and published a Swedish
dramatization of Walter Scott's Lady of the L a k e . S v e n s k a Män och Kvinnor
(Stockholm, 1942-1955), Vol. n, p. 503.
156
according to the latest style, as well as people with
patched boots and dirty clothes. A l l seem to thrive with
the much proclaimed equality and the roughest and most
uncouth gentlemen promenaded aft with the greatest
aplomb."
At South Amboy the journey was continued by rail. The
train, equipped with ten cars, proceeded south through
New Jersey, but Hjertstedt complained that he could not
see much of the landscape because of the excessive speed
of the train. He was, however, impressed with the comfort
of the trains, and how at various stops women and chil­dren
came on board, selling their stocks of apples, pretzels
and candies, just like the "pretzel madames in Södertälje
do aboard our steam ships." He predicted that the time
would come when "both dining rooms and sleeping rooms
would be found in these cars."
When the train reached the Delaware River, the passen­gers
were placed aboard a steamboat which transported
them the remainder of the way to Philadelphia. At 2 p.m.
the ship arrived and Hjertstedt and his companion went
ashore. He was not impressed with the approaches to' the
city, but once in the city he was of a different mind:
"It is much to be preferred to New York and is in its
cleanliness and pure lines one of the most beautiful in
the world. The city has a fantastic area and the streets
cut each other at straight angles. The city is full of mar­velous
public buildings of marble in noble Grecian style,
richly furnished with columns. Among these I noticed
The State House, which now contains Peale's Museum,
the largest collection of exhibits in America. The New
Bank of Pennsylvania is a large magnificent building of
white marble of ionic architecture, patterned after M i ­nerva's
Temple in Athens. The Pennsylvania Hospital
and several others are also prominent with their noble
architecture. The houses are usually four stories tall and
are not, as in New York,, cluttered with signs and adver­tising.
Most of them have door lintels, posts, steps and
fence posts of white and beautifully fashioned marble."
157
Hjertstedt had little time for sightseeing, but he man­aged
to visit the Peale Museum which called forth the fol­lowing
comment:
"The collections are to be found in an enormously large
room, supported by forty pair of pillars on each side,
around which runs a balcony. The collection of naturalia
is quite large and though assembled with taste, shows the
same childish desire to entertain, and the scientific system
is less followed than the effect it is supposed to give. I
admit that it seems well done to see a large tree, full of
animals, birds and insects, all life-like. I admit that the
voracious wolf which is tearing the sheep apart gives a
good effect; but monkeys which produce shoes, paint pic­tures
and write verse are to me in bad taste and bizarre.
Toward the back of the room is to be found the giant of
all animals, the immense and enormous Mammoth ani­mal.
One cannot fathom its tremendous size. The tusks
alone are twelve feet long. On each side of it stand an
elephant and hippopotamus, like small offspring around
the huge animal."
Unfortunately for Hjertstedt and for his narrative, time
did not allow him the opportunity to visit hospitals and
schools in Philadelphia, which he had heard said, were
among the best in the United States. The next morning, at
7 o'clock he returned again to New York, traveling the 91
miles in the record-breaking time of seven hours, includ­ing
all stops.
He spent the remaining two days of his stay in New
York frantically cramming away hundreds of new impres­sions
concerning American life and culture, all of which
fascinated him immensely.
He sought at every turn to be objective and to evaluate
Americans and their country within the framework of the
nation's youth and the fact that the American people repre­sented
many different cultures. He was genuinely pleased
with many facets of the young republic. He liked the gen­eral
appearance of the people:
158
"The appearance of the people generally is good and I
place the women before the women of any other country.
Their facial features, their proportions, their build, the
wonderful freshness of their complexion, the simplicity of
their taste in clothes as well as their manners, all contrive
to make them very lovely. Seldom, if ever, did I see an
ugly face. Everyone of them had something fine and ex­quisite
in her facial features."
"Their cultural level is generally better than that of the
men, who because of their business, do not have the time
to devote to esthetics. The only thing that bothered me
about the ladies, was the fact that their complexion is too
good, too pink—doubtlessly because their cheeks are too
rouged. Where some people see only beauty, the doctor
often sees destruction lurking in the background, the
worm behind the rose—hectic fever which sweeps away
most of them in their youthful years."
Hjertstedt liked the material comforts of New York. He
was impressed by the number of buses and cabs on the
streets. He liked the New York thoroughfares, particularly
Broadway and its illumination by night. He commented on
the fact that illuminating gas was extensively used in dwell­ings,
hotels and inns and one needed only to turn the jet
and light the gas to see the whole room illuminated. He
was impressed by the hotels, the good food and the tasty
wines, although he felt that the prices were a bit on the
steep side.
In his comments on the many Swedes that lived in New
York, he referred to the hard life that many of them led.
He mentioned the newly organized Swedish Society,6 which
though founded to unite the Swedes, had instead been the
means of splintering them even more, due to intrigues and
conflicting interests. He mentioned two of the members,
who had shown him a great deal of kindness, G. Tellander
and a Mr. Scherman.6
5 The Swedish Society was founded in New York, Feb. 21, 1836. by 22
Swedes.
"Probably Anders Gustaf Tellander from Jönköping, a jeweler, who had
arrived in New York in 1839 and Wilhelm Scherman, a draughtsman, who
was one of the founders of the Society and its first president. Oddly enough,
Hjertstedt's brother, Pehr Harald Hjertstedt, who lived in the United States
1834-1838, had been one of the charter members of the Society.
159
Hjertstedt realized full well the difficulty of appraising
the American character objectively. He admitted that this
would have been ludicrous, and yet he observed that:
"So far as I can see, they (the Americans) were in­dustrious
and busy as ants. They are neat and proper,
very immediate and are devoid of strange mannerisms.
The streets are not filled with loafers, beggars and people
of ill repute, of which we see so much in Stockholm."
He continued by observing the American love of freedom:
"The American nation has a burning passion for liberty
and for country. It is not hindered in this by old and
mossy constitutions, by customs and habits, but it makes
use of all the aids inherent in the spirit of the age, in
order to further progress and growth. The inherent abil­ity
of every individual comes first, whereas inherited ben­efits
and advantages mean nothing in this country. The
same thing can be said for titles and royal prerogatives.
A l l citizens are considered equal, provided they conduct
themselves properly and without reproach. Freedom of
thought is respected, as well as freedom of expression.
Hard work, industriousness and thoroughness are cardi­nal
virtues, which characterize the American nation. Re­ligions
of various faiths are not only tolerated, but have
an equal standing. There is no state religion, but every­one
may think and believe as his own conscience bids
him. Education and enlightenment are pursued in every
way possible."
But Hjertstedt was also mindful of the seamy side of
American life, and reflected over the less; admirable char­acteristics
of the American citizen. He pointed out, how­ever,
that these foibles were mostly due to the youthfulness
of the nation, its "peculiar" type of constitution and the
divergent backgrounds of its peoples:
"Culture is perhaps only skin-deep and the sciences,
particularly the theoretical disciplines, are not as thor­ough
here as in Europe. The fine arts are not given the
same attention, even though the appreciation is not lack­ing,
as some authors have pointed out."
160
"The feeling for freedom is sometimes exaggerated and
expresses itself sometimes in brashness and braggadocio,
as well as boastfulness that the American has no peer
among nations. This attitude can be annoying. Religion
also goes to extremes and the freedom of the press is
often abused, so that newspapers often become scandal
sheets, which rob people of all honor and decency."
Hjertstedt was particularly critical of the American treat­ment
of the Indian and the Negro. He was shocked by the
United States actions in the Seminole Indian War in Flor­ida:
"One must say that the American has not conducted
himself properly toward the original resident of his coun­try,
the red child of the forest, the Indian. The War in
Florida has demonstrated the injustice of the American.
No person could believe that a civilized state would wish
to revive the terrible treatment given to the Indian by the
Spaniard, particularly in the man-hunts conducted by
means of blood-hounds. But the enlightened North Amer­icans
are now planning to do this, if one is to believe the
press, which states that 300 of these beasts are being
brought from Cuba to begin a man-hunt on a large scale.
The newspapers are making merry over this method of
warfare and I saw several cartoons showing dogs in uni­form,
labeled 'The Florida Army.' "
In common with many other Swedish and European trav­elers,
Hjertstedt was critical of the way the American
treated the Negro. He quoted liberally from newspaper ac­counts
and the various state laws dealing with the Negro
problem. He was shocked in learning that in Alabama the
fine for teaching a f r e e d Negro or slave to read and write
varied between 250 and 500 dollars. The same law speci­fied
that cruel and inhuman treatment of a Negro slave
made its owner liable to a fine of 200 dollars:
"Two hundred dollars is the fine for mistreating a
slave—five hundred dollars the fine for teaching him to
read—"
161
Hjertstedt did not minimize the problem, however, and
admitted that it would be extremely difficult to solve. He
foresaw that the only way to eliminate slavery would be
by a general upheaval. This would mean a break between
the North and the South, which in turn might result in the
creation of two separate states, which were so different any­way,
in so many respects. He pointed out, however, that
any solution to the problem would have to come gradually,
without undue haste.
On April 6, 1840, Hjertstedt noted in his diary that Na­jaden
had weighed anchor and was borne toward the open
sea on the ebbing tide. His brief visit to North America
was over and he now looked forward to seeing his native
land once more. As the rays of the setting sun disappeared
in the west, he also saw disappear with them—
"the fertile and lovely coast of the New World, perhaps
forever, so far as I am concerned."
162